The Toxic Avenger is a fitting moniker for French DJ/producer Simon Delacroix. In the 1984 cult horror flick, tormented weakling Melvin Ferd III falls into a drum of toxic waste, and the beneficial side effect to all the pesky disfigurement and chemical burns is newly acquired super-human size and strength. Delacroix himself is just your standard goofy Parisian, but as Toxie, his glitchy, muscular electro is pure, mutant disco. Five long years ago the Toxic Avenger burst onto the bloghaus and indie-dance scenes with the iheartcomix-issued Superheroes EP, and a handful of releases and more than 60 remixes later (including buzzsaw reboots for Ladytron, Heartsrevolution, and Le Castle Vania), Delacroix finally delivers his debut long-player in Angst. Whereas the EDM dance circles that once bumped his monster tracks "Bad Girls Need Love Too" and "Escape" have, for the most part, moved on to dubstep, Angst continues to mine Delacroix's knack for twisted, scrapyard electro thrash. "Alien Summer" — featuring Norwegian pop pixie-for-hire Annie — is a throbbing, mechanical crusher with crossover appeal (moreso than Felix Cartal's recent similar collabo with Maja Ivarsson of the Sounds), while "Never Stop" slows the beat down without letting up on the force. Delacroix maintains focus over 11 tracks (four of them under the "Angst" title), and though some of it sounds a bit dated (read: 2007), it's still a forward-moving take on a subgenre that was quickly forgotten.

Various Artists | Casual Victim Pile: Austin 2010 The notion that regional musical flavors exist independently in American cities is quickly becoming an archaic truism, seeing as how the world really is a stage these days, at least in the digital sense.

Avi Buffalo | Avi Buffalo Look, I get it: the last thing we need right now is yet another band who can be described as “sun-baked,” “reverb-soaked,” or even just “psychedelic.” But Avi Buffalo (I know! An animal name to boot!) are worth your attention for a few reasons.

Ital | Hive Mind If there was a broken-record knock against electronic music in the last decade, it's that it all sounded the same.

Die Antwoord | Ten$ion Moreso than any "controversially-lipped" chanteuse (to borrow from one of Lana Del Rey's many observers), South African rap/rave/meme/satire/knuckleheads Die Antwoord beg the question:"Is that all there is?"

Cotton Mather | Kontiki [Deluxe Edition] When it was released in 1997, Cotton Mather's sophomore album racked up glowing critical huzzahs across the pond (not to mention big-ups from Oasis), yet dudded here in the States.

NINE BOSTON ROCK SHOWS COMING THIS SPRING | March 01, 2013 Go nine songs deep into Gozu's new The Fury of a Patient Man — from the stoner chug of opener "Bald Bull" to the buzzing boogie of "Salty Thumb" to the upright guitar crunch of "Disco Related Injury" — and there's barely any room to breathe.